I like parrying a lot! I feel it added to the gameplay, though I felt I was spamming keystrokes like crazy, a ton of jumping and turning to aim. I still have difficulties wall jumping while gaining speed, since the place where the mouse is needed changes depending on the position of the character on the screen. I held both mouse keys at the same time for the chainsaw, maybe for easy to use, it should always stay enabled when shooting normally.
The video is choppy, but the game didn't lag. Yeah about the wall jump, I couldn't handle it. Im not very good at these things, other people might find it more natural.
Gra jest zachwycająca, z jakiegoś powodu przywołuje moje wspomnienia z grania w Gisha około 2005 roku. Pewnie dlatego, że imponuje tą mechaniką z górą łusek. W sumie pod każdym względem, od technicznego, po art i gameplay robi wrażenie. Chylę czoła.
Nie ogarmąłem całego movesetu i dostałem tylko rangę B, ale potencjał ogromny. W sumie jestem bardzo wdzięczny, że moje niedociągnięcia w skakaniu po platformach mogę nadrobić po prostu usypując sobie górę brązu. Do odbijania pocisków trzeba się przyzwyczaić, mooooże zwiększyłbym okienko w jakim da się je wykonać, ale poza tym doskonała robota i spodziewam się, że będzie to hit.
Big improvements since last time I played! Definitely better level design and mechanics to stop people like me who like to skip everything heh. I love love the polish and details, you feel like a big clunky metal man and its such a cool game.
Two things to consider changing -- parrying was unforgiving to me, or I misunderstood it. It was frustrating. the game crashes when I completed a level and at various parts, unsure whats going on.
Maybe! Just keep an eye out for it. I would recommends timestamping your `error_log.txt` filename BTW. I had a few crashes, but look like newer crashes overwrote the older ones.
the pipes leading the way in the tutorial are nice
Still would love to have more horizontal space to get the hang of it. Right now I'm basically learning how to play the wrong way by being thrown right into the action, so I'll resort to what works.
new enemies are nice
platforms are now easier to see
Was struggling with the rope mechanic, having to press W/up to attach. Gave me some cramps.
I'm still spamming space when jumping
no idea how to properly fight the first boss without having the bullet mechanic down
on the final boss, I had sometimes trouble seeing the projectiles, they need more contrast against bright backgrounds
Can you only ever activate 1 of the upgrades? Or are they all active once unlocked?
I think it's still too tight and cluttered for beginners. With unorthodox mechanics I think it's extra important to give the players space to get used to it. Makes me think of how Portal did it step by step over several levels before you can use both portals.
Sorry, I still have your previous feedback (which was amazing btw) on the back of my head but I didn't get to fix almost any of that due to /v/3 prep and family stuff.
Space spamming is the bane of my existence, but there wasn't much of it in the video, at least for kicking. If you mean actual jumping then did you feel that it doesn't have enough buffering, it feels unresponsive due to landing delay, or the height is unpredictable with shells?
Can you only ever activate 1 of the upgrades? Or are they all active once unlocked?
All green ones are active. I had to take some shortcuts with UI because upgrade menu was added ~2 hours before DD submission.
What would you suggest for ledge/rope grab button?
It has improved a lot since the last time I played it. Having proper level design made the experience much better. I'm still a bit conflicted on whether vertical focused levels suit this game better than standard side scrolling ones. The shooting feels okay. Evading is a bit of a weird mechanic, I still haven't gotten the hang of it. I feel like a simple crouching mechanic would fit this game's slow player movement and make dodging some projectiles easier.
The menus are also very nice and well polished. The gameplay visuals are great too. Overall I didn't have a bad time so I think this game has tons of potential.
crouching mechanic would fit this game's slow player movement
It's actually the opposite, but I need to build up to it more with which will be an extremely difficult task. I wouldn't want player to be stuck in the walking and shooting pitfall (which might be fun but only for limited time), so jumping pushes you towards mid-air combat where you get to control the pacing.
I want this game to be hold down mouse and mow down hordes of bugs and watch them melt.
Then there's this other idea that this should be a precision platformer with parrying, and wall jumps?
I think, (and I believe this is on purpose) this is the slowest, most sluggish movement of any 2d platformer ever. The robot is worse than Ganondorf from SSB.
And so I don't think vertical precision platforming makes sense for this game. It just feels like a chore, especially as the very first thing you experience.
I think the game should at least start with horizontal side scrolling. Vertical climbing doesn't utilize the monitor's dimensions as well, you have less time to react to content as opposed to horizontal scrolling like in mario.
But it's hard to imagine any form of platforming that's fun with this movement. Maybe falling downwards instead of climbing up? Maybe on-rails segments?
I honestly had more fun playing robo-templar than this. That game just feels fun right away, at least before it starts getting cringe with bullet hell.
Obviously the game looks incredible as others have said, and I think many aspects such as the shooting are solid.
Thanks, that's what I needed to hear. I don't stand a chance against something that plays in a solid and conventional way as even faster walking is locked behind the recoil gimmick.
I want to love this game, the aesthetic and idea speaks to me in a deeper level, but man I have some issues and it might just be me being bad at games:
- I hate parrying, don't ask for precise inputs in a game where half of the screen is full of either bullets of gore bits
-you are asking too precise platforming skills on a game where the player is intentionally(I assume) hard to control
- W(to grab ledges) and SPACE (to jump) could be binded to the same key
-turrets are unsatifying to kill, they take too many shoots and as said before, parrying doesn't feel like a viable option. bullet sponges that look like they should die in 3 hits
-because you are hard to control and some parts need precise platforming, you can fall down often and lose progress, then have to do the same precise plaforming again(and fall again).
-boxes with HP should be both more obvious and more easy to break. a lot is happening on screen and I always ignore/miss them.
-turret energy bullets blocking your own bullets is bs
HAVING SAID ALL OF THAT, I LOVE:
-Aesthetics, I don't know with what devil you made a deal to have your art skills, but I want in
-the bullet casings staking is an amazing idea on itself, but how they affect the plaforming is cool af
-being push around by your own bullets: it just feels right to play around with the physics of your infinite ammo machine gun, I wish the levels were more horizontal to take more advantage of the speedboost it gives you when shooting at the opposite side you are moving
-boss battles are great, they have a good feeling to them.
-just all the animations of your character blasting away.
my recommendations would be:
- focus on letting the player have fun shooting things, platforming should not be the focus. You have a game were shooting is cool, let me shoot stuff.
-if an enemy can take a lot of shots(like the turrets) make their design look bulkier/armored.
-make destructable structures a bit more fragile, so it's obvious that you can destroy them
There's nothing precise about parries really, both time and range is really generous so I don't exactly understand. As long as you don't spam and keep moving it's a safe strat. The bulkiness of turrets and boxes comes down to kicking or getting closer in general, but it's a cool idea to make them look stronger (even if you can actually one-shot them).
Ledge grab and jump merging is not an option, as those are completely in conflict with the intent of the player - imagine grabbing a ledge instead of parrying by accident.
-turret energy bullets blocking your own bullets is bs
I got that a lot in the first demo, though from my perspective it makes the battlefield more dynamic. Staying on the ground both forces you to move around because of the shells and the projectiles deter you from the pitfall of trying to snipe things.
-Aesthetics, I don't know with what devil you made a deal to have your art skills, but I want in
It's an exclusive contract.
Thanks for the feedback. I think once I pump out levels with less steep difficulty curve it should eventually click.
Work with the last version on linux: got some error but didn't see any bug.
Here the log:
AGE OF BRASS - prototype linux$./AGE_OF_BRASS [ALSOFT] (EE) Failed to connect PipeWire event context (errno: 112) Uniform "time" not found in shader Uniform "resolution" not found in shader Uniform "resolution" not found in shader Uniform "time" not found in shader Uniform "saturation" not found in shader Uniform "phasePow" not found in shader Uniform "phaseOff" not found in shader Uniform "phaseFreq" not found in shader Uniform "resolution" not found in shader Uniform "seed" not found in shader Uniform "time" not found in shader Uniform "realOffset" not found in shader Uniform "realSize" not found in shader Uniform "ambientColor" not found in shader Uniform "fresnel" not found in shader Uniform "resolution" not found in shader Uniform "time" not found in shader Uniform "realOffset" not found in shader Uniform "realSize" not found in shader Uniform "resolution" not found in shader Uniform "ambientColor" not found in shader Uniform "depthTex" not found in shader Uniform "resolution" not found in shader Uniform "stasis" not found in shader Uniform "fresnel" not found in shader Uniform "texMatrix" not found in shader Uniform "shift" not found in shader
About the game:
You play an American predator thing against bugs, fun gameplay, played with clavier but I guess it is the kind of game where a controller is better. Great game.
Comments
DD53 feedback videos:
Demo Day 53 videos of games starting with letters from A – J:
https://mega.nz/folder/DdVwTYAK#ZsxVSpsd5L2yvgaqtcvBsA
Demo Day 53 videos of games starting with letters from K – Z:
https://mega.nz/folder/zBIi2A5T#DE3_eooG3HE-K3XTmpnR0g
Enjoy
Played all the levels. Video:
I like parrying a lot! I feel it added to the gameplay, though I felt I was spamming keystrokes like crazy, a ton of jumping and turning to aim. I still have difficulties wall jumping while gaining speed, since the place where the mouse is needed changes depending on the position of the character on the screen. I held both mouse keys at the same time for the chainsaw, maybe for easy to use, it should always stay enabled when shooting normally.
The menus backgrounds are awesome.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks a lot for the video, that makes it clear that someone can be good at parrying but the wall chaining is finger breaking.
Was the performance on your side bad or is that only the video? I'm considering more optimizations and options but nobody ever complained.
The video is choppy, but the game didn't lag. Yeah about the wall jump, I couldn't handle it. Im not very good at these things, other people might find it more natural.
Gra jest zachwycająca, z jakiegoś powodu przywołuje moje wspomnienia z grania w Gisha około 2005 roku. Pewnie dlatego, że imponuje tą mechaniką z górą łusek. W sumie pod każdym względem, od technicznego, po art i gameplay robi wrażenie. Chylę czoła.
Nie ogarmąłem całego movesetu i dostałem tylko rangę B, ale potencjał ogromny. W sumie jestem bardzo wdzięczny, że moje niedociągnięcia w skakaniu po platformach mogę nadrobić po prostu usypując sobie górę brązu. Do odbijania pocisków trzeba się przyzwyczaić, mooooże zwiększyłbym okienko w jakim da się je wykonać, ale poza tym doskonała robota i spodziewam się, że będzie to hit.
Two things to consider changing -- parrying was unforgiving to me, or I misunderstood it. It was frustrating. the game crashes when I completed a level and at various parts, unsure whats going on.
Great job, keep it up!
Is there an error_log.txt in the directory? Could you send me the contents?
Yep! Here you go. Lmk if you want anyu other files
https://pastebin.com/vQmmZQh
Exception 3221225477 occured
0: [6e714462] (in C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispig.inf_amd64_c0e159863e7afdde\nvoglv32.dll)
1: [70a7d959] sf::Texture::~Texture(in C:\Users\david\Downloads\dd_53\AGE OF BRASS - prototype 0.0.17\AGE OF BRASS - prototype\sfml-graphics-2.dll)
2: [1074b0] sf::Texture::~Texture(in C:\Users\david\Downloads\dd_53\AGE OF BRASS - prototype 0.0.17\AGE OF BRASS - prototype\AGE OF BRASS.exe)
3: [50f2b0] sf::Texture::~Texture(in C:\Users\david\Downloads\dd_53\AGE OF BRASS - prototype 0.0.17\AGE OF BRASS - prototype\AGE OF BRASS.exe)
4: [12052b] sf::Texture::~Texture(in C:\Users\david\Downloads\dd_53\AGE OF BRASS - prototype 0.0.17\AGE OF BRASS - prototype\AGE OF BRASS.exe)
5: [381d8b] sf::Texture::~Texture(in C:\Users\david\Downloads\dd_53\AGE OF BRASS - prototype 0.0.17\AGE OF BRASS - prototype\AGE OF BRASS.exe)
6: [3817b3] sf::Texture::~Texture(in C:\Users\david\Downloads\dd_53\AGE OF BRASS - prototype 0.0.17\AGE OF BRASS - prototype\AGE OF BRASS.exe)
7: [556d1b] sf::Texture::~Texture(in C:\Users\david\Downloads\dd_53\AGE OF BRASS - prototype 0.0.17\AGE OF BRASS - prototype\AGE OF BRASS.exe)
8: [544d52] sf::Texture::~Texture(in C:\Users\david\Downloads\dd_53\AGE OF BRASS - prototype 0.0.17\AGE OF BRASS - prototype\AGE OF BRASS.exe)
9: [541786] sf::Texture::~Texture(in C:\Users\david\Downloads\dd_53\AGE OF BRASS - prototype 0.0.17\AGE OF BRASS - prototype\AGE OF BRASS.exe)
10: [3832b5] sf::Texture::~Texture(in C:\Users\david\Downloads\dd_53\AGE OF BRASS - prototype 0.0.17\AGE OF BRASS - prototype\AGE OF BRASS.exe)
11: [3b859e] sf::Texture::~Texture(in C:\Users\david\Downloads\dd_53\AGE OF BRASS - prototype 0.0.17\AGE OF BRASS - prototype\AGE OF BRASS.exe)
12: [3b6ab7] sf::Texture::~Texture(in C:\Users\david\Downloads\dd_53\AGE OF BRASS - prototype 0.0.17\AGE OF BRASS - prototype\AGE OF BRASS.exe)
13: [194976] sf::Texture::~Texture(in C:\Users\david\Downloads\dd_53\AGE OF BRASS - prototype 0.0.17\AGE OF BRASS - prototype\AGE OF BRASS.exe)
14: [75596939] BaseThreadInitThunk(in C:\Windows\System32\KERNEL32.DLL)
15: [77808fd2] RtlGetFullPathName_UEx(in C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll)
16: [77808f9d] RtlGetFullPathName_UEx(in C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll)
Thanks man! Damn, that looks like a weird driver specific issue...
Maybe! Just keep an eye out for it. I would recommends timestamping your `error_log.txt` filename BTW. I had a few crashes, but look like newer crashes overwrote the older ones.
Contender for game of the jam and definitely game of /v/3 (alongside DOTJD, of course)
I still suck at the bullet mechanic.
I think it's still too tight and cluttered for beginners. With unorthodox mechanics I think it's extra important to give the players space to get used to it. Makes me think of how Portal did it step by step over several levels before you can use both portals.
No commentary video.
Sorry, I still have your previous feedback (which was amazing btw) on the back of my head but I didn't get to fix almost any of that due to /v/3 prep and family stuff.
Space spamming is the bane of my existence, but there wasn't much of it in the video, at least for kicking. If you mean actual jumping then did you feel that it doesn't have enough buffering, it feels unresponsive due to landing delay, or the height is unpredictable with shells?
All green ones are active. I had to take some shortcuts with UI because upgrade menu was added ~2 hours before DD submission.
What would you suggest for ledge/rope grab button?
Thanks a lot for the video, it will be useful.
It has improved a lot since the last time I played it. Having proper level design made the experience much better. I'm still a bit conflicted on whether vertical focused levels suit this game better than standard side scrolling ones.
The shooting feels okay. Evading is a bit of a weird mechanic, I still haven't gotten the hang of it. I feel like a simple crouching mechanic would fit this game's slow player movement and make dodging some projectiles easier.
The menus are also very nice and well polished. The gameplay visuals are great too.
Overall I didn't have a bad time so I think this game has tons of potential.
Thanks!
It's actually the opposite, but I need to build up to it more with which will be an extremely difficult task. I wouldn't want player to be stuck in the walking and shooting pitfall (which might be fun but only for limited time), so jumping pushes you towards mid-air combat where you get to control the pacing.
I feel like there's a fundamental clash of ideas.
I want this game to be hold down mouse and mow down hordes of bugs and watch them melt.
Then there's this other idea that this should be a precision platformer with parrying, and wall jumps?
I think, (and I believe this is on purpose) this is the slowest, most sluggish movement of any 2d platformer ever. The robot is worse than Ganondorf from SSB.
And so I don't think vertical precision platforming makes sense for this game. It just feels like a chore, especially as the very first thing you experience.
I think the game should at least start with horizontal side scrolling. Vertical climbing doesn't utilize the monitor's dimensions as well, you have less time to react to content as opposed to horizontal scrolling like in mario.
But it's hard to imagine any form of platforming that's fun with this movement. Maybe falling downwards instead of climbing up? Maybe on-rails segments?
I honestly had more fun playing robo-templar than this. That game just feels fun right away, at least before it starts getting cringe with bullet hell.
Obviously the game looks incredible as others have said, and I think many aspects such as the shooting are solid.
Thanks, that's what I needed to hear. I don't stand a chance against something that plays in a solid and conventional way as even faster walking is locked behind the recoil gimmick.
I want to love this game, the aesthetic and idea speaks to me in a deeper level, but man I have some issues and it might just be me being bad at games:
- I hate parrying, don't ask for precise inputs in a game where half of the screen is full of either bullets of gore bits
-you are asking too precise platforming skills on a game where the player is intentionally(I assume) hard to control
- W(to grab ledges) and SPACE (to jump) could be binded to the same key
-turrets are unsatifying to kill, they take too many shoots and as said before, parrying doesn't feel like a viable option. bullet sponges that look like they should die in 3 hits
-because you are hard to control and some parts need precise platforming, you can fall down often and lose progress, then have to do the same precise plaforming again(and fall again).
-boxes with HP should be both more obvious and more easy to break. a lot is happening on screen and I always ignore/miss them.
-turret energy bullets blocking your own bullets is bs
HAVING SAID ALL OF THAT, I LOVE:
-Aesthetics, I don't know with what devil you made a deal to have your art skills, but I want in
-the bullet casings staking is an amazing idea on itself, but how they affect the plaforming is cool af
-being push around by your own bullets: it just feels right to play around with the physics of your infinite ammo machine gun, I wish the levels were more horizontal to take more advantage of the speedboost it gives you when shooting at the opposite side you are moving
-boss battles are great, they have a good feeling to them.
-just all the animations of your character blasting away.
my recommendations would be:
- focus on letting the player have fun shooting things, platforming should not be the focus. You have a game were shooting is cool, let me shoot stuff.
-if an enemy can take a lot of shots(like the turrets) make their design look bulkier/armored.
-make destructable structures a bit more fragile, so it's obvious that you can destroy them
Whatever you make, you got me hooked.
There's nothing precise about parries really, both time and range is really generous so I don't exactly understand. As long as you don't spam and keep moving it's a safe strat. The bulkiness of turrets and boxes comes down to kicking or getting closer in general, but it's a cool idea to make them look stronger (even if you can actually one-shot them).
Ledge grab and jump merging is not an option, as those are completely in conflict with the intent of the player - imagine grabbing a ledge instead of parrying by accident.
I got that a lot in the first demo, though from my perspective it makes the battlefield more dynamic. Staying on the ground both forces you to move around because of the shells and the projectiles deter you from the pitfall of trying to snipe things.
It's an exclusive contract.
Thanks for the feedback. I think once I pump out levels with less steep difficulty curve it should eventually click.
Work with the last version on linux: got some error but didn't see any bug.
Here the log:
AGE OF BRASS - prototype linux$./AGE_OF_BRASS
About the game:[ALSOFT] (EE) Failed to connect PipeWire event context (errno: 112)
Uniform "time" not found in shader
Uniform "resolution" not found in shader
Uniform "resolution" not found in shader
Uniform "time" not found in shader
Uniform "saturation" not found in shader
Uniform "phasePow" not found in shader
Uniform "phaseOff" not found in shader
Uniform "phaseFreq" not found in shader
Uniform "resolution" not found in shader
Uniform "seed" not found in shader
Uniform "time" not found in shader
Uniform "realOffset" not found in shader
Uniform "realSize" not found in shader
Uniform "ambientColor" not found in shader
Uniform "fresnel" not found in shader
Uniform "resolution" not found in shader
Uniform "time" not found in shader
Uniform "realOffset" not found in shader
Uniform "realSize" not found in shader
Uniform "resolution" not found in shader
Uniform "ambientColor" not found in shader
Uniform "depthTex" not found in shader
Uniform "resolution" not found in shader
Uniform "stasis" not found in shader
Uniform "fresnel" not found in shader
Uniform "texMatrix" not found in shader
Uniform "shift" not found in shader
You play an American predator thing against bugs, fun gameplay, played with clavier but I guess it is the kind of game where a controller is better. Great game.